2 men guilty of stabbing Iranian journalist in London in an attack prosecutors blame on Tehran

LONDON (AP) — Two Romanian men were convicted Friday in a London court over the stabbing of a journalist from a Persian-language television station, an attack prosecutors say was carried out at the behest of authorities in Tehran.

A jury at Woolwich Crown Court found Nandito Badea, 21, and George Stana, 25, guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Pouria Zeraati, a presenter at London-based Iran International, was stabbed in the leg in March 2024 outside his home in the Wimbledon area of London. He recovered from the attack and returned to work.

Police said former professional soccer player Badea and another man attacked Zeraati before fleeing in a getaway car driven by Stana and then flying out of the country from Heathrow Airport. Badea and Stana were arrested in Romania in December 2024 and extradited to the U.K. The third suspect, David Andrei, is the subject of criminal proceedings in Romania.

“This was a targeted and violent attack and it was the prosecution’s case during the trial that it was carried out on behalf of the Iranian regime,” said Chief Superintendent Kris Wright of Counter Terrorism Policing London.

The jury’s verdict does not conclude that the attack was conducted on behalf of Iran, though prosecutors said the judge may determine that when the defendants are sentenced on July 3.

Iran’s senior diplomat in the U.K. has denied Tehran was behind the attack.

The satellite news channel Iran International has previously received threats due to coverage critical of Iran’s theocratic government.

In 2023 the broadcaster temporarily moved to studios in Washington, D.C., after what it described as an escalation of “state-backed threats from Iran.” The station later resumed operations at a new location in London.

U.K. security officials claim Iran is behind a growing number of plots on British soil targeting opposition Farsi-language media outlets and the Jewish community.

The head of Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service, Ken McCallum, said in October that more than 20 “potentially lethal Iran-backed plots” had been disrupted in the previous 12 months.

An Iranian proxy group has claimed credit for a recent string of suspected antisemitic attacks that have included stabbings and attempted fire bombings at synagogues.